|

|

Eidos Montreal poised to double in size

Pending approval of a £1.2M grant, Eidos Montreal could expand from 350 to 700 employees, making it one of the largest Canadian game development studios.

Fresh from the launch of the critical success of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it appears that developer Eidos Montreal might be doubling in size. Publisher Square Enix is apparently making a push to greatly expand the Canadian studio, pending the approval of a £1.2M grant ($2M CAD), by local government officials. Though the deal has not yet been finalized, the funding would be used to help facilitate the rapid increase in head-count.

French-Canadian publication La Presse Affaires (via Develop) has noted that should the funding be approved, Eidos Montreal could quickly expand from its current staff of 350 to around 700 employees. According to the report, Square Enix has reached a "tentative agreement" for the grant with funding group Investissement Quebec.

The Quebec government currently offers 40% tax subsidies for production costs, making it an attractive location for many studios. It's reported that should the grant be approved, Eidos Montreal will add 100 jobs by the end of 2012. Two-hundred fifty more jobs would then be added by 2015, which also means that Eidos Montreal would need to find a bigger office, or split the studio between two locations.

If Eidos Montreal expands, it will join a number of high-profile "mega" studios in the area, most notably Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed team.